My 74 Vega... No rat project for me yet...

[coostv]

I was going to start a ground up rat project last fall when this little Vega fell into my lap. I was over to my inlaws checking out my father in law's latest project (this Vega) when he mentioned he was thinking about going a different direction... I instinctively (it is a knee jerk reaction for me) asked how much he wanted for it and an exchange of $200 later he dropped it off to my house.

I have been wrestling for the last several months on what I want to do with it. I think I have finally formulated my plan and am about to embark on the journey. I was going to do a rat rod project this year, but since this little car fell out of the unwanted tree and landed in my yard I will go forward with it. It is going to be a whirlwind year as I have a completion goal of the St. Ignace Car Show in June 2013 and have a ton of things to do to get it ready. I would really like to drive it back and forth to work for a month before I take it on a trip, so I have less time than I keep thinking I have. I have been to the show in 2 of my former rides with a buddy of mine, but this time I would like to bring my wife and indoctrinate her into the car culture. lol

Enough with the banter, here are a few pics of the fresh canvas!

Here it is after being introduced to the shop and sitting for a month while I repaired my wifes "new" car.

Here it is after finally starting to study it for the planning phase while the wife's car was in my booth.

And finally here it was a couple weeks ago after it had become a storage bench for the "other shop project.

And the other shop project, my buddy's Jeepster.

Most of you in southern states will know what it is like to work in 100 degree heat, I don't. I took the rest of this week off to get some stuff done around the house, but with the heat we are experiencing this week I will not be doing much other than studying the car... Once I have my wood cut for the winter I will be hitting this car hard and updates will come frequently.

Oh, and here is how my wife's "new" car turned out.

As you can see from my pictures I have ADD, I can not focus on one thing for long so having multiple things to do "helps" me cope! I may even "start" a rat project along the way as I am actively searching for the right canvas. As long as I have a date as a goal I am good, this little Vega has all of my attention after the Jeepster vacates the premises.


Chris

Rat Rod is next!

 

[Shea Laking]

Vega's ROCK! My first car was a '77 hatch, which got a 327 transplant after a few months of "quart-a-day" oil consumption.

LOTS of stuff you can do with these-the internet is a blessing for lovers of obscure automobiles. A site I would suggest:

www.h-body.org

Keep us posted. I'd love to see pics as you make progress.[P

Regards,
Shea

 

[coostv]

I am on that forum as well. I like this forum too, so I thought I would share here as well.

I really wanted to start a rat build, but I have also always wanted a Vega and have searched periodically for the last 15 years or so. This one completes the oddball small car category for me. I have had a Pinto and a Gremlin, this one will be a lot different than the other two though.

 

[Bamamav]

Fun cars to build! Chevy really messed up by not offering the small block in those, as they just about fall into place!

I built one several years ago, it was an abadonded drag car project. It was back halved, Dana 60 narrowed rear, tubbed, ladder bars, 3/4 caged. I put in a full aluminum floor, had a hot 327 glide in it. Never drove it, found an El Camino I wanted more, so it got the 327. Got in a tight and needed money, so I sold the Vega for $175 . The Hooker headers that went with it cost nearly that much back then! Sometimes you just have to do what you have to do......

 

[Shea Laking]

Fun cars to build! Chevy really messed up by not offering the small block in those, as they just about fall into place!

I built one several years ago, it was an abadonded drag car project. It was back halved, Dana 60 narrowed rear, tubbed, ladder bars, 3/4 caged. I put in a full aluminum floor, had a hot 327 glide in it. Never drove it, found an El Camino I wanted more, so it got the 327. Got in a tight and needed money, so I sold the Vega for $175 . The Hooker headers that went with it cost nearly that much back then! Sometimes you just have to do what you have to do......

Once I got mine put together, I drove it about three times, then sold it...

Those little P185 70 R 13's just weren't wide enough to handle 250-275 HP... Punching the throttle and kicking it down into passing gear @ low speeds resulted in one sideways little car. Ahh, the good ol' days.

Looking forward to more Vega Madness as it appears.[P

Regards,
Shea

 

[Dirtyrat]

Will be looking forward to the Vega, a buddy at my work has i think has 3 Vegas, one is an original cosworth..

[P

 

[sgtpontiac]

When I worked at the Chevy Dealership as a tech

Will be looking forward to the Vega, a buddy at my work has i think has 3 Vegas, one is an original cosworth..

[P

I must have put in 100 or more engines when they decided the basically untreated aluminum cylinder walls were scoring from the standard piston and rings they were running....got the short blocks shipped to us in a large Cardboard box.....I got so good at changing them out I could do 2 a day....LOL....I think that was in 77 or 78....No not 1877 ....wise guys!!!

 

[offroadrolls]

Fun cars to build! Chevy really messed up by not offering the small block in those, as they just about fall into place!

I built one several years ago, it was an abadonded drag car project. It was back halved, Dana 60 narrowed rear, tubbed, ladder bars, 3/4 caged. I put in a full aluminum floor, had a hot 327 glide in it. Never drove it, found an El Camino I wanted more, so it got the 327. Got in a tight and needed money, so I sold the Vega for $175 . The Hooker headers that went with it cost nearly that much back then! Sometimes you just have to do what you have to do......

Me and a buddy built one in High School. It was the wagon or did they call it a cam back. We got a 327 out of a 65 Vette and a cast iron power glide out of something else. If I remember right the kit we used had us replace the front cross member with the engine. We made the trans cross member out of a 2x4 and secured it with 1/4" lag bolts and fender washers going down from the inside of the car. It had 2 speeds, fast and faster. Bad thing was every 3rd time you'd punch it, the diff would break. I think they had nylon ring gears. We took the car with 4 complete axle assemblies to the High School drags and made it all the way to the finals on our last rear end.......Lost to some chick who'd borrowed her big brothers 70 Camaro with a 427. She beat us by about 10 car lengths

 

[donsrods]

Vegas are getting hard to find. I would love to have one to drop a sbc into.

Don

 

[Shea Laking]

Yep. I'd love another one, too. This time around, a 305 TBI, 700 r4, S10 spindles, axles and brakes for 5 lug, and subframe connectors.

Dare to dream.

BTW, the wagon version was called "Kammback." Used to be a bit of a "Vega Scholar" when I was a kid. What a geek I was!

Still have the GT dash with V-8 tach that I never got around to installing in that first one...

Regards,
Shea

 

[coostv]

Thanks guys for not making me feel like I would be the only one here to like these things.

I thought I included my power plant ides in my first post... I am planning to do a 5.3 / 4l60e keeping the fuel injection and adding air to the car. I would really like to see that this one is different from my other projects in that I would not be afraid to drive it to work daily if I wanted to (cost effectively that is). I am at a point where I see the benefits of fuel injection and the 5.3 is such a cost effective and tweakable package that I just feel that is the way to go. I am hoping for better than any of my old 5 liter Mustangs and a similar rush of my Gremlin with it's heated up Chevy.

All in all, I am looking forward to this one more than any other, thus far.

 

[RoddingRon]

I bought a 74 vega with a 4 speed when I was going back and forth to college. After I graduated (and blew the motor the 2nd time), I figured I had a few extra bucks so I was going to hotrod the Vega. After talking to a few guys and seeing what happens when you put a worked small block in one without tying everything together (body twisted...cracked the windshield and the body was so twisted a new windshield wouldn't fit back in), I decided to go the V-6 route. I found a 231 Buick motor. Put a 4 barrel intake and carb on it then built mounts to bolt it in. AFTER I bought headers for a V-6 Monza, I found out I could have just gotten factory parts to bolt it in...oh well. My mounts worked out good. As I remember, I had to modify the shifter linkage to make the 4 speed work, but otherwise was a pretty straight forward deal

I loved the combination, because it was similar power to weight of a small block Camaro, but out on the highway traveling between NE PA and DC, I was getting just short of 28 MPG.
This was back in the early 80's and I thought it was cool to have such a fun car and still get that kind of mileage.

Good luck with yours, and keep the pics coming on your progress

 

[coostv]

Ron, I will be adding frame ties from front to rear. I will start at the front stub and end at the rear lower control arms with which the lower control arms will then bolt into the new sub frame connectors. Hard to describe, but will be very apparent once I get to that part.

It finally cooled off today and afforded me the opportunity to work in the shop in comfort. So, I decided to start with the windshield channel. It is rusted out just about the the entire width of the cowl. I was able to accomplish one corner and get the next piece cut bent and fit. Warning, the pictures kinda suck.

Started with a hole.

Ended with no hole.

Next piece fit in.

I got excited and shot it with a little etch primer to see what it looked like and forgot about getting pictures in bare steel. I will try to get more bare steel pictures when I get to the other side. I bent the new piece with a shrinker stretcher set I bought from Harbor Freight last winter. There is a learning curve to go with that, but I am picking it up fairly fast.

 

[Shea Laking]

I bought a 74 vega with a 4 speed when I was going back and forth to college. After I graduated (and blew the motor the 2nd time), I figured I had a few extra bucks so I was going to hotrod the Vega. After talking to a few guys and seeing what happens when you put a worked small block in one without tying everything together (body twisted...cracked the windshield and the body was so twisted a new windshield wouldn't fit back in), I decided to go the V-6 route. I found a 231 Buick motor. Put a 4 barrel intake and carb on it then built mounts to bolt it in. AFTER I bought headers for a V-6 Monza, I found out I could have just gotten factory parts to bolt it in...oh well. My mounts worked out good. As I remember, I had to modify the shifter linkage to make the 4 speed work, but otherwise was a pretty straight forward deal

I loved the combination, because it was similar power to weight of a small block Camaro, but out on the highway traveling between NE PA and DC, I was getting just short of 28 MPG.
This was back in the early 80's and I thought it was cool to have such a fun car and still get that kind of mileage.

Good luck with yours, and keep the pics coming on your progress

Yep, a V-6 would work pretty darn good in one of these little fellas, too.

Nice thing is, '74-'77's once you cut out the factory 4 cylinder mounting plates, the factory Monza mounts for any of the bigger motors will bolt in. I used those in my old car. Only other thing was to shove the stock trans crossmember back to the rearmost holes so the TH-350 would bolt onto it. Oh, and a cut driveshaft, of course.

Great, now you guys have got me dreaming again, DAMMIT!!! Just kidding, but even these wierd old thigs don't grow on trees around here anymore... No ha-ha.

Regards,
Shea

 

[Shea Laking]

Coostv, thanks for the pics, man! Gettin' my star (Vega, hee-hee) fix.

Yeah, those things sure had some s**ty places to rust out... Forgot about those window channels...

Anyway, keep up the good work![[P

Regards,
Shea

 

[Tim...Ok]

Cool project..I had a hatchback GT with a fairly hot 350/th350 years ago, mine had the rearend out of a V8 monza in it..still really weak..LOL first car I ever had that you could kick into passing gear and get sideways at highway speeds..but if i ever touched the brakes and the gas at the same time, it was bye-bye spider gears.. you always carried a spare set in the glovebox, or plan on walking..

fun little car though, can't wait to see what you do with this one..

Tim

 

[ronnysplymouth]

I'm a die hard Mopar guy with a weakness for Vegas.....lol.......I've had no less than 15 of all years and varieties some ran some didnt.....One particular vega I put a 455 olds into and drove it down the street and back with a couple burnouts for good measure and when I got back home I could not open the driver door, the car was junk

 

[coostv]

I'm a die hard Mopar guy with a weakness for Vegas.....lol.......I've had no less than 15 of all years and varieties some ran some didnt.....One particular vega I put a 455 olds into and drove it down the street and back with a couple burnouts for good measure and when I got back home I could not open the driver door, the car was junk

I have typically gravitated towards Ford's. I have not added to my list of cars owned in a few years, but I think out of 60'ish vehicles at least 40 or so have been a Ford branded car... I currently have 4 Ford's (Taurus, Fusion, E150, & F150), a Buick, an Oldsmobile van, a Mazda Rx7, and the Vega... I have been thinking about selling 2 of them since my son and oldest daughter are both off to college and we no longer need the vans. Something needs to go!! Luckily I have the room so it does not look like a car lot here. My wife informed me she wants a new style Camaro next...

 

[Shea Laking]

I have typically gravitated towards Ford's. I have not added to my list of cars owned in a few years, but I think out of 60'ish vehicles at least 40 or so have been a Ford branded car... I currently have 4 Ford's (Taurus, Fusion, E150, & F150), a Buick, an Oldsmobile van, a Mazda Rx7, and the Vega... I have been thinking about selling 2 of them since my son and oldest daughter are both off to college and we no longer need the vans. Something needs to go!! Luckily I have the room so it does not look like a car lot here. My wife informed me she wants a new style Camaro next...

The lots are FULL of 'em up here.... Can't seem to build 'em fast enough to keep up with the demand. (new "Camaros" that is). They build 'em about 6 blocks away from where I sit right now.

Regards,
Shea

 

[coostv]

Unfortunately I forgot to take the camera with me to the shop while I was working on this... I get out there and it is all business until I am ready to quit and head for the house, so I only have a couple of completed shots. I now have a completed lower windshield channel. There are a couple small areas that I need to finish grinding and 2 small areas that need to be patched along the top. Our camera is getting older... Even though it was a great camera a few years ago, it seems to be taking lower quality these days.

Here is one with the dash panel clamped in place since I do not have three hands.

This is my first major project I have used my shrinker stretcher on. So far it has proved to be invaluable, I do not see how this could have been done with the same results without it.